The ActiveRain Stuff You Won't Find Anywhere Else on the Web

Top 10 ActiveRain Outside Blog Tips

Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:30:30 -0400

ActiveRain Outside Blogs offer members the opportunity to have a "stand alone" presence outside the network and they are included with the rainmaker memberships. I still get many questions on how to set these up and the most common question is "How do you customize it so it's not like anyone elses blog?"

Here are my top 10 best practices and tips for those Rainer's wanting to maximize their outside blogs.

1. Select a theme that works best for you, your brand, your company and target audience.

2. Utilize all the features and tools available form the dashboard toolbar. (you must be logged in)

3. To customize the CSS formatting, colors, backgrounds etc. and if you're a techy, use the Chameleon theme.
I like it because I can make sure my blog won't ever look like anyone elses.

Maximize your SEO, analytics, and widgets by implementing the tools made available.

4. I highly recommend the "Google Search" which magnetically draws the Google spiders to your site. Since this is a Google product and tool, I can assure you that they follow its placement and use very diligently. Make sure you have plenty of content on your site first, you don't want to draw Google attention to your site if you only have 3 or 4 posts there.

5. Adding the "Analytics" tool helps so you know what's working best, and tracking your visitors and target audience couldn't be made any easier. You can't add the Google analytics to your ActiveRain blogs, but you can add it to your outside blogs.

6. Each of these tools available adds additional value to your outside blogs but it's your content that matters the most. Great content on ANY blog will garner traffic and create business opportunities. Allow those that find you the chance to get notified via email every time you post something by adding the "feedburner" widget. Let people subscribe to your blog.

Note: MyBlogLog and Retaggr are no longer services that are available on the web.

7. Give your outside blog a Kick-Arse custom domain name (it's included) making it easy to search for your site, find your site, and easy for you and clients/targets to remember. What's in a name? Everything, so try to incorporate the most important aspects of your blog in the title to get the most impact and results. Including Hyper-local if you can is always a good thing.

Note: The "Internal" URL is your back-end dashboard, the "Custom Domain" is the public view.

8. Adding good "links" and using great anchor text for "calls to action" is a key traffic generator and lead capture opportunity that often times gets over-looked and most often under-utilized. Think about what would make someone absolutely have to click on these links and trust me, they will. I can prove this by just having you create a link similar to this one that says something like... "DON'T CLICK HERE!" haha~

Adding links is easy: Just paste the URL in the Link box, and place the anchor text in the Title box.

BTW - Did you click on the DON'T CLICK HERE link? lol~

9. The last thing you should know is that the SEO (search engine optimization) on outside blogs carries a great deal of weight in the SERPS (search engine results page) which is great for your ROI (return on investment) since ultimately the people you are trying to reach and get in front of are the ones that will find you when searching the Internet.

Google search results DO matter, and where you land on the page makes all the difference in the world.

10. All of these tips and best practices are to help you do one thing: create content that cultivates traffic/visitors which allows you to capture contacts and convert them to clients right? There are really ONLY two types of people out on the web and searching Google: Those that know you, and those that don't. Which audience is your target? Exactly! :-)

ActiveRain outside blogs are one of the best and most powerful tools that I think ActiveRain offers its members, but then on the other side of that coin, the greatest tools and power of ActiveRain IS IT's MEMBERS!!

Stop by anytime and check out my ActiveRain Outside Blog at http://ActiveBradsBlog.com

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"May this blog be just one more planted seed of wisdom that helps you or your business blossom today!"

Keyword Tools for Your Blog

Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:26:11 -0500

Back in the day, a few of us discovered a really cool tool from Google known as "The Wonder Wheel" which helped members with keyword selection for their SEO friendly blog posts. Now that the Wonder Wheel is gone, I get literally hundreds of requests from members looking for good alternatives to enhance and better the "Keyword" content on their blogs, sites, posts, and blog titles.

Understanding The Importance of Keyword Searches:

Search engines like Google focus on returning the best quality and "Best Available" SERP's (Search Engine Results Pages) It's all based on what "Keywords" or phrases are being typed into the Search box. Search engines simply want to return the best available matching content based on both short-tail and long-tail keyword searches.

The two things people search most are: the item, the person, the company, the thing or service, and then a geographic or what many refer to as a "hyper-local" location. Having this knowledge about search engines and keywords is the first step, the next steps will hopefully help remove the guessing game of...

"What are people looking for and typing in the search box of search engines?"

No pun intended (well, maybe a little...) SEARCH NO MORE! While we can never really be 100% certain of what people are searching and the exact keywords or terms they're using, these keyword tools will help you not only define what IS being searched on the web, but how and what keywords to be using when creating and refining your blog titles and blog content.

Keyword Tools for Your Blog

Introducing Google's Keyword Tool:

In the "Keyword Search" we typed "Real Estate in San Francisco" which seems like a pretty reasonable search that most web surfers would type if interested in looking at Real Estate in San Francisco. Interestingly the "Keyword Tool" came back showing that there is a larger percentage of people searching San Francisco Apartments which might make sense considering the space and demographic of San Francisco.

Maybe creating a Blog post with the Title "San Francisco Apartments" and then provide content on how those living in "San Francisco Apartments" could qualify for a great loan, with great rates, and possibly become first time buyers and first time homeowners. Would this be a worthy option and idea worth trying? This is just a sample of how you can use these Keyword tools to better your content, your traffic, and hopefully your business.

How should I use the Keyword Tool for keyword ideas?

Search for specific keyword ideas that are related to your business, product, or service. Or you can search a URL containing content relative to your specific niche, business, or service. You can also go straight to filtering out specific keyword categories. Use one or the other or both of them together; the keyword tool is very flexible and intuitive depending on how you choose to use it. Go ahead and try this:

Use the Advanced options to refine your search, for example, by county, city, or neighborhood.
Check or Un-check the keyword match type check boxes to refine your search.
Select the Columns button above the results table to customize the columns you see in the results.

Give the Google Keyword Tool a Try

Check out the Google Keyword Toolbox

Soovle Is Another Great Keyword Tool

Soovle.com search multiple sites and returns most searched results on multiple platforms of your choosing. You can select from up to 15 sites at one time to get the most poplar searched "Keywords" or related "Phrases" on those individual sites. Here are the results as I started typing the keywords "Real Estate" when suddenly I realized that if I stopped typing, the Soovle tool kicked in and started solving...

I was personally pretty excited to see that on the Yahoo site, "Zillow Real Estate" was a pretty popular search by consumers and Internet surfers. (I do hope you have a profile setup on our site for those visitors to view)

Go Ahead, Take Soovle For A Spin

SEOBOOK Keyword Suggestion Tools

SEOBOOKS Keyword suggestion tool cross-references Wordtracker.com, Google, and others. It displays links to related search results, semantically related phrases, and offers a new CVS exporting option which rocks. SEOBooks combined with Google Insights will provide you with a wealth of FREE data and information to set you on your way using "Keywords" effectively in your online marketing, advertising, and blogging endeavors going forward.

Check out SEOBooks, you won't be disappointed.

"The objective of a business website or blog is to attract potential buyers and convert them into paying customers. Keywords can help. Use appropriate keywords on your site and you’ll attract visitors who want to buy the types of products you offer." Source: Wordtracker

"Hover your mouse above for hidden message"

I'm always looking to provide better, faster, more efficient, and cost effective ways to help get the job done, but I'm only one grain of sand on a very large beach. If you find this content useful and worthy, take a second to reblog it. You can help spread the ActiveRain love across larger beaches much faster, and by doing so, you're helping to take the" "keyword" message further and make the process easier and better for those that might be following you or your blogs. Thanks. :-)

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"May this blog be just one more planted seed of wisdom that helps you or your business blossom today!"

Featured Tools for Your Blogs

Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:14:50 -0500

Check out these new tools for clients and prospects that work really well on ActiveRain, Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr, Posterous, and your Websites. Providing valuable information, data, interactive tools, and great content on your blogs and websites will help you to cultivate, capture, and convert target prospects and visitors into clients. Here's just a few I thought you'd be interested in knowing are now available:

How Much Home Can You Afford? Get This Widget Here

How Much House Can You Afford?

Mortgage calculator provided by Zillow

What's Your Monthly Payment Going To Look Like? Get This Widget Here

Monthly Payment Calculator

Mortgage rate calculator

Searching For A Home Is Fast, Easy, and FREE Get This Widget Here

Your browser doesn't support frames. Please visit

HOMES FOR SALE IN SAN FRANCISCO

REAL Time Information and Data Regarding Mortgage Rates Get This Widget Here

Today's Mortgage Rate

Find Real Estate Information ANYWHERE In The Country Get This Widget Here

Find Homes

QUICK LINKS:San Francisco Real Estate Listing Mortgage Rates Refinancing San Francisco Foreclosures Mortgage Calculators Purchase Loans

Get Local Market Stats and Compare Information Get This Tool Here
(remember to replace my city with yours)

San Francisco Zillow Home Value Index

San Francisco Home Values - Interactive chart

Check out these other 38 real estate widgets and tools for your blogs and websites. The FREE Co-branding option ensures that you stay front and center with your clients and prospects and reminds them who to contact when they're ready. Installation is easy, there's no programmers or designers required, and I'm only a comment, phone call, text message, or email away if you need help.

For all the old school folks, I still respond to smoke signals and carrier pigeons too.

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"May this blog be just one more planted seed of wisdom that helps you or your business blossom today!"

Top FREE Image and Photo Editing Sites

Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:18:42 -0500

There is so much concern and “Buzz” about Google shutting down Picnik.com, I decided to provide you with some alternative tools for editing and customizing your graphics, photos, and images. While Picnik.com will be shutting down in April 2012, here are some other options you have available immediately.

FotoFlexer – Create some dazzling photo and image effects in your browser for FREE. Use Animations, resizing, coloring, contrast and more. Take a look at These 5 Demo’s for a quick tour of what FotoFlexer has to offer, you’ll love some of these cool features. Smart Scissor is a favorite feature.

Pixlr – and for Picnik users, try Pixlr Express. You’ll love the Editor, the Pixlr-o-matic, the Pixlr Grabber for Firefox and Chrome browsers, and the Pixlr Imm.io hosting, all of which are very robust and user friendly cool features.

LunaPic – This site will rock your world! Lunapic offers more choices and options for photo editing and custom effects than some of the paid software applications I’ve purchased and used in the past. Use vignettes, color bars, animated imaging, picture frames, retro color, collages, custom text, reflection animations, slide shows, and a ton more. One of the most feature rich FREE online editors available. You’re gonna love this site.

FreeOnlinePhotoEditor – A really simple and easy to use photo and image editor for those “quick fix and gotta go” graphics. Very basic but simple and fast. Some of the other online photo and image tools include: OnlinePhotoTool.com: Online photo editor, Automatically resize your images when sending it by email, Create an Image from your RSS feed, Create Image from your Tweet and Twitter account, and Create, save and email screenshots.

BeFunky - Be Funky lets you do some pretty amazing things with your photos and graphics. Most of the features and tools are focused on creating cool, fun, and funky effects and artwork. The site’s name says it. Some of the effects available would take hours to create in Photoshop or other high end and costly photo/image editors.

Definitely worthy of a visit and tour.

Photoshop.com – That’s right, you can use Photoshop online and for FREE. You’ll need to register, but I promise it will be worth it. The Photoshop tools are powerful and very easy to use. Be prepared to spend a little time here, you’ll be amazed at what they have to offer and allow you to do online for free. I’m not going to lie, this is one of my favorites and my personal replacement for Picnik.com closing down.

GIMP – GIMP is very similar to Adobe Photoshop except that GIMP is FREE. It does require you to download the software but one huge benefit to that is it will never be bought and shut down on you. It is a very powerful and feature intense program so unless you’re really experienced with editing and graphic design, or you have more time than it takes to close a short sale, you may want to stick with one of the others.

I personally like to use GIMP for graphic design more than image or photo editing.

Combine all these together and you’ll have more FREE editing tools and features than you’ll ever need or use and absolutely FREE. Take a few moments to review each site, bookmark them, then give each one a try to see which one(s) best meet your photo and image editing needs. Enjoy!

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"May this blog be just one more planted seed of wisdom that helps you or your business blossom today!"

Leading The Way With 100,000 Agent Reviews

Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:12:38 -0500

It's been over a year since we launched Agent Ratings and Reviews.

Today we are leading the way with more than 100,000 reviews of local real estate agents submitted by our users. At launch, there were a few skeptics that felt that this could hurt an agent's business just as much as it could help, but, great service cultivates referral growth. Premier Agents with five or more reviews get more than twice as many contacts than agents with zero reviews.

Today, we're expanding Ratings and Reviews to all real estate professionals. All you need is a profile on Zillow and you immediately can start requesting reviews. Agents, lenders, title companies, stagers, inspectors etc., start taking advantage of this awesome opportunity to show off what it is that you do best!

Consumers typically write reviews to share their experiences about services, products, and people, but they're also reading reviews by others to assist them with real estate buying/selling decisions and in choosing their real estate team of professionals. Many agents and lenders are increasing their contacts and business using client ratings and reviews.

During a "Rating and Review" webinars, ActiveRain members Peggy Lyn and Chris Speicher from the Speicher Team shared the below email. This contact became a closed transaction and their client for life.

This new client also took the time to write a glowing review for the Speicher Team.

Testimonials & Reviews

Check out the Speicher Team ActiveRain profile and see how they're using "reviews" on their page.
Here's another great sample of how they're using Ratings and Reviews on their website.
Look how Jay Thompson, The Phoenix Real Estate Guy is using reviews: ReviewOurAgents.com
Erica Liodice from RealLiving.com shares how Ratings and Reviews are generating new business.

The Power of Consumer Reviews

Take a look at the screen shot below, it tells consumers a couple things:

1. The agent with reviews actually is working with clients selling and buying homes.

2. The agent's responses to the reviews are marketing opportunities to future viewers.

3. Agent's with large volumes of reviews translates as "many transactions" to prospects.

Check out these agents, many have more than 50 reviews. Start requesting reviews from your past clients, it's easy and the results will not only set you apart from the competition, the power of third-party referrals and endorsements are nearly as good as word-of-mouth referrals. Plus they stay online for others to see indefinitely.

Using the Facebook Apps/Tabs to populate your Facebook business pages with reviews is a great way to promote your five star service to social media channels. Adding a co-branded reputation widget on your blog and website also will attract additional contacts and produce visitors looking for reputable professionals to represent them in their real estate transactions.

I know that you stand behind the services and experiences you provide to your clients. I also know that consumers not only deserve this type of ratings and reviews service, they expect and even demand it. I'm very excited and pleased that so many members are benefiting from this feature and service.

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How To Add Blogs To Facebook Business Pages

Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:12:46 -0500

Many Facebook Business page owners want to automatically add their Blog posts to their pages. While this can no longer be done on your Facebook personal profiles, it CAN BE DONE if you have a Facebook Business or Fan page. NetworkedBlogs created a Facebook app that allows you to now add your Blog posts directly and automatically to the Facebook page(s) of your choice.

The first step is to make sure you have a Facebook Fan or Business page. If you don't have one, Create A Facebook Business Page or Fan Page here first. Once you have a page created, you can run through the following step-by-step instructions to add almost any blog content from any site to your Facebook selected pages.

This should also work nicely with your ActiveRain blog content if you choose.

You'll want to visit http://Facebook.com/NetworkedBlogs to begin the process. For detailed step-by-step instructions including the screen-shots that you'll need to do this, I've created a 12-Step Blog to Facebook Tutorial that will walk you through the entire process.

Some of you may not want your posts to appear on your Facebook pages and that's ok too. If that's the case, you might still find this tutorial helpful and useful to share with a friend or associate when they ask you how to do this? This is what Bernadine Hunter from ActiveRain asked me, I hope this will help others too.

Instructions - How To Add Blogs To Facebook

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The Importance of Strategic Distribution

Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:59:05 -0500

Spencer Rascoff, our CEO at Zillow, just posted this great article about the "Importance of Strategic Distribution" which discusses the hot topic of listing syndication. I'm excited to see the conversations and engagement that develop around this subject as it's one that I too am very passionate about. I find myself having conversations and discussions around this topic daily.

Thanks Spencer for posting this and for addressing head-on many of the industry and member issues and concerns. Definitely reblog worthy, I hope many others will reblog this too. :-)

Via Spencer Rascoff (Zillow):

It’s a new year, so what better time to take on a controversial topic: listings syndication. There is a lot of discussion about this in our industry, and I thought it was time to give Zillow's thoughts on this important topic. My comments below will also be the basis of my speech at this week's Inman Connect in New York.

First, let me emphasize that Zillow has a lot of usage. In December 2011, more than 23 million unique visitors used our websites and mobile applications. The primary reason they use Zillow is because of Zestimates, and the other unique content we have on our website. It is because of this traffic that nearly every major real estate brokerage in the nation puts their listings onto Zillow, for free.

Because the number of real estate websites has dramatically proliferated, real estate brokers and MLSs are now giving a more careful review of what sites they send listings to. I applaud this, as I think it is important to carefully evaluate which sites make the most sense. This trend towards "strategic distribution" is different from the more shotgun-like approach that characterized listings syndication for the last few years.

Strategic distribution is all about making the right decision on where to put listings based on criteria that makes sense for your business. Brokers own their listings, and can put them on whichever sites they choose. But in my opinion, brokers should carefully consider several important criteria when making these decisions:

1. Which sites are most likely to provide my listings with exposure to the most buyers. After all, that's what the listing agents and their brokers have been hired to do by their home sellers: get the house sold quickly, at the best possible price.

2. Which sites have business rules which are most acceptable to my brokerage.

Listings on Zillow receive exposure across Zillow.com, Zillow Mobile - the most popular suite of real estate apps across all major mobile platforms - and the Yahoo!-Zillow Real Real Estate Network the largest real estate network on the Web (according to comScore Media Metrix, 1), so clearly we have many millions of buyers visiting our website and using our mobile apps. Sellers benefit from their listing receiving as much exposure as possible.

Some in our industry have commented that although Zillow has more than 23 million unique monthly visitors to our websites and mobile apps, perhaps Zillow and other national media sites "don't have very much traffic in my area". That's incorrect. Zillow reviewed November 2011 data from comScore Media Metrix, the leading third-party source of website traffic information. Note that this data does not include traffic on mobile applications, where Zillow and other national brands have overwhelmingly more usage than others. Just looking at website statistics though, the Yahoo!-Zillow Real Estate Network is the #1 or #2 real estate entity in all 20 of the top 20 local markets in the United States (2). The data simply does not support the argument that "those sites aren't big in my area." [If you'd like to learn more about Zillow's traffic in your area, please email me; we will happily share Zillow's internal traffic statistics for your region.]

To emphasize the mobile point further, let me stress that not putting listings on Zillow, REALTOR.com and Trulia is tantamount to abandoning any hope of finding a buyer who is using a mobile device. In December 2011, Zillow had more than 36 homes viewed every second of every day on a mobile device. Zillow has leading real estate apps on iPhone, iPad, Android phones, Android tablets, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, and Kindle Fire. Mobile usage accounts for about a quarter of all of Zillow's usage -- it's too important a channel for a seller or their listing agent/broker to ignore.

Brokers and MLSs should not only consider a website's traffic when making syndication decisions. But they should also consider how each website gets its traffic. At Zillow, most of our traffic comes directly to Zillow.com or Zillow's mobile apps, rather than coming to us through SEO. Our tens of millions of users are attracted to Zillow's unique content, including over 100 million Zestimates and 100,000 consumer reviews of real estate agents. We bring this traffic to the table in these syndication discussions; it's not like we showed up at the potluck with just a fork.

Putting listings onto top real estate sites is what sellers want, because it helps sell their homes. But don't take my word for it -- let's look at the data. Zillow data shows that homes which receive the top 10% of page views sell more than a month faster than their counterparts in the bottom 10% of views. Similarly, these highly viewed listings achieve sale prices closer to their asking price than those with less exposure. The difference is especially pronounced among homes priced less than $250,000. It's obvious, but if you give your listing exposure to lots of buyers, it will sell faster and at a higher price. The data proves it.

The Objections

I've already addressed one objection to sending listings to leading media sites: the local traffic stats.

The second objection I sometimes hear is that "the media site is selling my leads". Most major media sites (including Zillow) have free models which pass buyer contacts to the listing agent -- all they have to do to be presented as the first choice for buyers on their own listings is set up a free account and free profile on the site (which ensures that the buyer contact will get through to them).

In addition, some listings syndication services such as ListHub, owned by Move, Inc. (operator of REALTOR.com), have recently introduced dashboards to help brokers and MLSs understand different media sites' business rules, and decide which sites to send listings to. This allows the MLS to facilitate the efficient distribution of listings under the direction of the broker who owns the listings.

Diverse Solutions

No discussion of listings syndication would be complete without mentioning Zillow's acquisition of Diverse Solutions, the leading tech provider of IDX for websites. Many of you have told us what a great company, staff and products they have. But there are some conspiracy theorists who have speculated that Zillow will simply flip a switch and take all of the IDX listings through Diverse and put them up on Zillow.com.

It won’t happen and can’t ---due to contractual and legal reasons.

However, from the day the acquisition was announced, we started hearing from brokers that asked why they needed to continue to send Zillow a direct feed, when it was already coming to Diverse through their MLS. Therefore, if a broker wants us to use their listings from IDX, and their MLS agrees, then we will do this. We are in the midst of conversations with many brokerages and many MLSs about this, since it significantly reduces the complexity for the brokerage and it improves accuracy of listings on Zillow, which benefits brokers, agents and their MLS.

Speaking of listings accuracy ... Zillow invests massive resources in making our listings as accurate as possible, and it all starts with what’s provided to us by our partners. Complaining about accuracy while providing us with a less than stellar feed or no feed at all does none of us or our industry any favors. Those who decide to pull listings from sites like ours due to their own business reasons have the right to do so. But to take that step and then say a key reason was listing accuracy feels disingenuous when they have removed the very direct feed that is the most accurate, often leaving their agents to rely on less reliable options.

Conclusion

Strategic Distribution is an important part of a broker's marketing strategy. It is very important for brokers to put their listings where buyers will find them -- this is critical for agent recruitment and retention, and to help sell clients' houses.

It is for these reasons that nearly every major brokerage in the country has chosen to put their listings onto Zillow. We are very proud of our partnerships with companies like RE/MAX International, Coldwell Banker, Century 21, Windermere, Halstead, Prudential Fox & Roach and hundreds more.

I look forward to further discussion of this important issue, and I hope to see you at Inman Connect later this week.

Data Sources:

(1) comScore Media Metrix Real Estate Category Ranking by Unique Visitors, November 2011, US Data.

(2) comScore Local Market Key Measures, November 2011, Real Estate Category by Unique Visitors

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5 Tips To Growing Your Business on ActiveRain

Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:57:37 -0400

Even though ActiveRain is a powerful Real Estate Social Network and one of the greatest industry blogging platforms on the web, I wanted to share a few ideas on how many folks I know are using this network to grow their relationships and business. Everyone ultimately has to "find their own way" and use whatever sites and tools work best for them, but don't overlook the potential and opportunities right here.

ONE:
Online Knowledge Library

ActiveRain serves as a fantastic resource to learn about the wide variety of real estate technologies out there and how to strategically apply them to your business. Read and learn how to use many of the newest and most powerful tools and sites on the web. Keeping up with all the new and exciting stuff online is easy when you follow the right bloggers on AR.

Learn from those who willingly share how and what works for them. You can filter through thousands of posts here and select specifically what will work best for you. Start here with the Top 100 Most Subscribed To Bloggers on ActiveRain.

TWO:
Relationships and Referrals

Connect with like minded individuals, build relationships, then give and get referrals. Using ActiveRain as your National Real Estate database makes the site instantly one of the largest databases for accessing and networking with other industry professionals. Sharing ideas, asking questions, getting support from the many AR friends and family here is what makes up the unique AR culture and it's also what makes ActiveRain one of the most unique online real estate networks.

THREE:
Engage With Other Members

Commenting creates links back to your profile so use quality commenting, not quantity commenting. Don't just leave comments for points, make points with your comments. Every comment you leave in the rain is like a planted seed that can sprout at anytime. They help build rapport and trust with other readers. Who reads your comments? More people than you think, and what they think matters and makes a huge difference in your reputation and growth here.

FOUR:
Deliver and Receive Amazing Content

Content is and always will be king. Share and give back as much as you learn and take from ActiveRain. Those who give ALWAYS receive. Content is blogging, commenting, interacting in groups and participating in channels. Use and share a variety of your experience, wisdom, and knowledge about numerous topics, ideas, and discussions. Amazing content will get you back-links, reblogs, and lots of comments.

FIVE:
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Google Results

ActiveRain is well known for its SEO and has a reputation of landing members articles at the top of page #1 in the search engines. Be sure to blog for clients, SEO, and for Google. All three are your target audiences. ActiveRain has some of the best SEO to benefit Rainmaker members. Remember, hope is not a strategy, and page #2 of Google gets very few clicks.

There are many other great ways to grow business on ActiveRain, these were just the first 5 that came to mind when I was asked this question at RainCamp in Seattle.

You will get out of it more than you put into it and the relationships you can potentially build here are more powerful than any other tool or feature the site can offer in my opinion.

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"May this blog be just one more planted seed of wisdom that helps you or your business blossom today!"

How To Have Your BEST Year Ever

Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:25:03 -0500

My hope is to encourage anyone and everyone that reads this to DREAM BIG and then LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

What will you do with your future? You really only have two choices...

You can choose to just survive, or you can choose to succeed. Know this though, if you do choose to succeed, and you decide to prosper, and commit to focused and clearly defined goals, then anything is and will be possible because YOU were born to succeed! Your very BEST can still be in front of you.

YOUR future is in YOUR hands. Inside you is untapped potential. You have unlimited value and your dreams can definitely come true but ONLY if you believe they can. You are unique and very special which NOBODY can ever take away. You can achieve whatever you put your mind to so choose to enlarge your vision.

Retrain your brain, increase your confidence, attract the GOOD around you, and seize the profitable opportunities in and around your path. Step forward daily and positively engage relationships. Unleash your maximum wealth and don't forget to "DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT!"

Prepare for your success and believe in yourself.

Plan before you do anything. Ask questions and question everything. Avoid the negative and move outside of your comfort zone. Let go of the past and remember, NEVER GIVE UP!!

Share this with anyone you know that might need a bit of encouragement and inspiration in these challenging times. It might make a difference in their day . . . and maybe, just maybe . . . their entire year!

I wish the VERY BEST to you all in 2012~

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How To Add .PDF Files To Your Blog Post and Website

Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:29:34 -0400

How To Add a .PDF File To Your Blog Post or Website

Once you've learned to add photos, embed video and audio files, create hyper-links and anchor text etc, inevitably you'll want to know how you can add a .pdf file to your Blog post. An Adobe Acrobat .PDF (Portable Document Format) file is a document that typically cannot be edited and is usually created from an original document using the Adobe Acrobat software or similar application. .PDF files can be viewed by downloading the FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Adding a .PDF file to your Blog post can be done one of two ways. You can upload the .PDF file to a host server on the Internet and simply create a link to it using the location URL or web address. IE: http://www.DomainName/DocumentName.pdf The second way is to use a program or tool that creates an HTML embed code which you can add to your Blog post or website.

Scribd.com is a site that offers users a tool that lets you upload your .PDF document onto their server, then use their widget/player to embed the file into your Blog post or site. The site is FREE and once you've signed up and registered, the process is fast and simple. The benefits of embedding the .PDF file vs linking to it are that visitors and readers don't have to leave your post or site to access the shared PDF document.

How To Add a PDF File to Your ActiveRain Blog Post

1. Join Scribd.com and setup a Profile

2. Upload your .PDF file to Scribd.com

3. Click on the .PDF File you want to embed to Blog Post or Website

4. Copy the embed code from the "Share and Embed" Toolbox

*Notice the options to share on Facebook, Twitter, or Google Buzz
(You can also create a hyperlink to Anchor text using the Link/URL)

5. Place/Paste the HTML embed code on the HTML tab of your Blog Post.
The code can also be added to your website using your HTML page editor.

6. Save your post or page and you're done!

Here's a sample of a .PDF file I created a couple years ago here on ActiveRain.

Brad's Top Free Online Website Tools and Picks

As an Absolute Last Resort

One last option would be to take a "screen shot" or capture the PDF file as an image (if it all fits on your computer screen) and save it as a .jpg file, then you can add it as a photo or graphic to your Blog post. Unfortunately, even a single page PDF file is hard to display the entire page on a computer monitor or single screen. To capture any computer screen image, use the "Shift+Print Scr" keys on a PC, or the "Shift+Command+4" on a MAC to capture the image. You can always crop out what you don't want in the image using a photo or image editor like picnik.com or Adobe Photoshop. If you'd like a free photo or image editing software similar to Adobe Photoshop, check out Gimp.org.

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10 Tips for Better Online Contact Conversion

Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 23:24:37 -0500

Are you getting the absolute most and best results from your ActiveRain, Zillow, and other Agent memberships and sites? Are there some things you’re doing or maybe not doing that could increase the results and successes you’re currently experiencing?

Many times we feel confident and believe that we are doing all the right things possible, but sometimes as Gary points out in the video below, there might be a better or more efficient way to get even more and better results.

Take it from someone who is successfully active in both the local real estate community as a REALTOR, and online as a successful Agent. He’s been doing this for over 30 years, and the past two years have really paid off for him as he has fine-tuned his marketing skills and advertising efforts.

In this video, Gary will explain the “Best Practices” and the importance of the following:

Using Market Data, Information, and knowledge To Close More Transactions
Understanding How Important Your response time is to every Online Contact
What to do when you get calls on homes that aren’t for sale or not your listing
Having all the right answers is impossible, it’s all the right questions that count
Keeping your eyes and ears open for those subtle signs of opportunity
Follow-up can mean many things, but what does it mean to YOUR contacts
What is the most critical and important activity that produces results online
The perception of your role portrayed online within your community is their reality
Using creativity with the featured showcase advertising gets you more contacts
Recognize the advantages of using Zillow as a Buyer Sales tool and a Listing tool

Enjoy this short 3-minute video and be sure to contact Gary directly if you have any questions at all.

I think you’ll be convinced from Gary's 2 years of experience converting online contacts into clients, that his tips and advice could be very useful and powerful additions to your online efforts and marketing strategies in 2012.

*Get More Tips and Tools "By Agents for Agents" Here

About Gary Gold:
Gary Gold is the Executive Vice President of Hilton & Hyland. He's an active Real Estate Agent representing Celebrity's in the Luxury Housing Markets of Southern California. Gary is a Zillow Top Marketer in the Beverly Hills, Bel Air, and Sunset Strip communities. He recently debuted on HGTV's "Selling LA" and has appeared numerous times on local and national television.

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"May this blog be just one more planted seed of wisdom that helps you or your business blossom today!"

How To Get Started on ActiveRain

ActiveRain Corp. — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:08:36 -0500

How To Get Started on ActiveRain - A quick route to a successful Journey on ActiveRain.

The ActiveRain Staff, along with our members and ambassadors, wish to welcome you to the community. We know you have a choice, and we're glad you've chosen our network as a place to connect with others, support your local neighborhoods and communities, plus grow your business and relationships.

Before you begin your journey here, there's a few areas we invite you to navigate first. This will save you time and give you a better understanding of the Network. We're confident that our site will bring value, benefits, and substantial rewards to you and your business.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN
These are REQUIRED and a MUST READ for ALL New Members - NO EXCEPTIONS!

What We Stand For - Weltenschauung
Weltanschauung: The guiding principles and philosophy of an organization. A world view.

The ActiveRain Community Guidelines
Please take these rules seriously.

ACTIVERAIN UNIVERSITY
Get live training weekly to make your blog the best it can be

ActiveRain University Schedule - Classes every weekday
Learn the ins and outs of ActiveRain and how to utilize it to the fullest with our live trainer.

ActiveRain Orientation - A Live Webinar to get you acquainted
Steve, our live trainer takes you through the basics on the site to get you familiar with ActiveRain

ActiveRain University Suggestion Box
Don't see a class you would like us to create? Make a suggestion to us for future classes.

GETTING STARTED in 3 EASY STEPS
Follow these next steps to get setup on ActiveRain.

How To Complete Your Profile - Part II
Your profile has three areas that allow you maximize the page. Learn How to use these sections.

How To Use Your "My Settings" Page
Now you are ready to Customize your ActiveRain Settings.

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF ACTIVERAIN
Social Networking, Connecting and Blogging

ActiveRain Member Success Stories
Read what other industry professionals and members have to share.
Here's A VIDEO version

Understanding ActiveRain Points
Learn about points and how they work on the network.

The RainMaker Membership
Becoming a RainMaker - The Value and The Benefit

READY TO MAKE LIGHTNING, THUNDER AND RAIN
Now that you're a member and RainMaker, put the power tools to work

Top 10 Tools for New Members and RainMakers
Take the time to review what this network has to offer.

ActiveRain Custom Outside Blogs
How To Create and Maximize Your Outside ActiveBlog.

OTHER USEFUL RESOURCES TO HELP YOU
Use these links to dive deeper in the "Rain" if you need more information

The ActiveRainGuide
A Tutorial Blog by Members for Members

The ActiveRain Staff Blog
The Official ActiveRain TEAM Blog

Help/FAQ Group
A network group created to help members

An ActiveRain eBook Tutorial
Find Almost Anything about ActiveRain here

ActiveRain University
Online Campus for Training and Support

Real Estate RainCamp
"Live" Local Conferences and Seminars
My Blog, Your AR Resource
Your One stop Shop for all AR Tutorials

DID YOU KNOW?
ActiveRain is the TOP Real Estate Social Network in the World (source: Google)

The ActiveRain Network hosts over 170,000 RE Industry members averaging 200-300 new members daily. There are more than 1.5 million articles posted, with an average of 700-1000 new posts daily. Two million+ visitors traffic the ActiveRain network each month, over 80% are consumers. Only Rainmaker upgraded accounts receive Google trafﬁc to their blogs and posts. ActiveRain Member's Blog posts receive more than 500 views on average. Activerain is the ONLY on-line Network that offers this wide variety of tools, diverse services, and proven solutions to the Real Estate Industry Professional and for consumers on the WEB.

Best of Luck and Enjoy!

Social Media Buttons and Icons - Is Someone Pushing Your Buttons?

Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:30:45 -0400

Social Media Buttons and Icons - Is Someone Pushing Your Buttons?

During these past few weeks, since adding the "Signature" option to ActiveRain posts, I've received so many requests, calls, and emails regarding how to add "Social Media Buttons and Icons" to the footers of Blog Posts. You've probably seen many of the various types and styles other members are using on their Blogs which poses the question, "Where Are They Getting These?" Here's some sites I've found that offer you these custom buttons for FREE. This includes for personal and commercial use according to their terms and guidelines.

Here are some Links to Literally Thousands of Buttons and Icons:

My Social Buttons

Royalty FREE Icons and Clip-art

WebTreats - 2000+ Buttons

Brian Brumpton "RainDrops"

DivaGeekDesigns - An Icon Overdose

The Value of A Twitter Search

Open Source Hunter

Instructions For Adding Buttons and Icons to the Signature or Footer of Posts:

Once you've downloaded the Social Media Buttons or Icons of your choice, you can add them to your AR Signature Page (including the appropriate links) by going to your "My Home" page on AR, then select the "Settings" link on the left hand sidebar. Just upload the button or icon into the "Signature" section of the page, add the appropriate link to your image, then click "update" to save. That's it!

One tip I would suggest is to be careful which Icons you select for some of the Social Networking Sites. If the Icon or Button isn't a familiar looking one, then visitors might be less likely to click on it. For example, the cow face, what Social Network or site does that one belong to? Maybe visitors would click on it just to find out? (LOL~) With all these Buttons and Icon styles available, one thing for certain is that your signature can be unique. So have FUN!!

This should give you plenty of options and creative ways to stand out from the rest of the crowd. :-)

Social Media Buttons and Icons - "The Buttons You Want People To Push!"

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The ActiveRain Point System

ActiveRain Corp. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:35:25 -0500

The ActiveRain Point System

ActiveRain awards members points based on participation and their individual involvement within the network and community. While there is a much more complicated and technical explanation of how the point system works, this post is to provide you with a general overview of how points are earned and distributed to all ActiveRain members.

ActiveRain points are earned based on a member's individual activities and efforts. Points are accumulated over the course of the calendar week which starts Monday morning at 12:00am Eastern Time, and ends Sunday night at 11:59pm Eastern Time.

The following are some ways you can earn points and move up the "Featured Member" ladder in your local area:

200 points for each blog post
(Max 10 per week) (50 word minimum required)
25 additional points when post is added to channels with a topic
400 points for Featured Post on ActiveRain.com
(Excludes posts featured in ActiveRain groups)
25 points for each comment
(Max 10 Per Day) (Comments on your own posts excluded)
25 points for each reBlogged post
(Max 10 per week - these do not include your own posts)
ActiveRain profile points
(Building your ActiveRain profile will build points)
Received comments on blog posts
(No blog post to exceed 475 pts.)
100 points awarded for logging in to ActiveRain each day
(This applies 7 days a week)
250 points when someone accepts your ActiveRain invitation
(Must sign up under Member's Invite Code)
10% of total points earned by new members invited by you
(Example: invited member earns 1000 pts. - you earn 100 pts.)
ActiveRain and member approved contests - points will vary
(These show up as "Bonus Points" in your Point Summary)
Staff awarded bonus points - these are issued by the ActiveRain staff
(Member Humanitarian, Paying It Forward, Helping Others, etc.)

Weekly Point Scenario: The potential of points available per week, per member would be as follows: 1750 for max comments, 2000 for max blog posts, 700 for logging in daily, 250 for adding to Channels/Topics, and 250 for max reBlogged posts. The weekly potential of points would be 4950 (this does not include Featured Posts, comments received, invitation and percentage points, contests, and staff-awarded bonus points.)

Point Disclaimer: The Points System created by the ActiveRain Network was developed and implemented to motivate, inspire, and reward members for their participation and involvement within the community. These points are subject to change at the discretion of the ActiveRain Mgmt. Team, with or without cause, warning, or notice.

Real Estate Marketing Plans: Most Effective Marketing of 2011

Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:06:46 -0500

Is your Real Estate Marketing Plan ready and in place for 2012?

This post might be useful in helping you determine where to best spend your time and money for maximum results. Online and offline, you're going to need a business plan with goals. Here's a great article and resource to help get you started.

Via ActiveRain Corp.:

Real Estate Marketing Plans

Do you have your real estate marketing plans for 2012 ready?

With SO MANY alternatives for real estate marketing plans, are you confused on what to do in 2012?

So as you develop your 2012 real estate marketing plans, here is some great food for thought:

ActiveRain, the largest blogging platform and professional social network in real estate, conducted a survey of 1,910 real estate professionals asking the simple question of "what is the most effective real estate marketing or advertising that you do?"

The results:

Referrals (including word of mouth and sphere of influence) were overwhelming the most preferred marketing with 26% of responses.

Blogging was #2 with 13% of responses. (Keep in mind that the survey was conducted on ActiveRain, so these results may naturally be skewed to blogging).

Direct Mail continues to be incredibly popular. Direct Mail includes post cards, mailers, and newsletters. Direct Mail also received 13% of responses.

Internet Marketing as a general category received 12% of responses. Our assumption is that Internet marketing is generally speaking pay per click marketing on Google, Yahoo or Bing or lead generation from a number of different sources.

Networking Networking includes partner referrals and face-to-face meetings. Face-to-face networking received 8% of the responses.

(Share these stats - link to this article: http://activerain.com/blogsview/2641172/real-estate-marketing-plans-most-effective-marketing-of-2011)

As you can see based on 2011 real estate marketing plans, real estate professionals continue to favor more traditional offline, "tried & true" hand to hand real estate marketing techniques. Though the general bucket of Internet marketing & blogging are equivalent to direct mail, the top marketing techniques tend to be more offline - referrals, direct mail, networking, working with past clients, open houses, door knocking and cold calling. Hard to know if ActiveRain is the same as blogging and if Zillow or Google are the same as Internet marketing, but interesting to see that from a response perspective, that Open Houses are more popular than any one web site AND Door Knocking is more preferred than CraigsList and FaceBook.

When real estate professionals were asked, "What is the most effective real estate marketing or advertising that you do?" only a small number of real estate web sites were mentioned in reasonable frequency: ActiveRain, CraigsList, FaceBook, Zillow and Google. Of course, blogging and Internet marketing are large categories with a lot of different companies. But there were very few mentions of Wordpress or other ways to market online. Noticeably absent were Trulia and Realtor.com Though we believe ActiveRain is a very powerful blogging platform, fans of ActiveRain are likely over-represented in the survey. Kudos to Zillow to have name recognition equivalent to Google in the real estate industry.

For 2012, here are the key questions to ask:

How important is developing your REFERRAL BASE? How are you going to do it?

Are Blogging and SEO part of your 2012? If so, what to do - ActiveRain, Wordpress, Blogger, or other?

Direct Mail continues to be an important part of the real estate professional's marketing mix. It is amazing, but true. Direct Mail allow neighborhood targeting unlike online marketing. What kinds of direct mail campaigns will you be using?

Internet Marketing needs to be part of your 2012 marketing mix, but there are a lot of options from pay-per-click advertising to lead generation to Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com

ActiveRain is great place to start the learning process to figure out the best Internet marketing strategies to achieve your personal and financial goals in 2012!

Share this blog post! Either blog about it or share on your social networks. Link to and reference this blog if you use this content: http://activerain.com/blogsview/2641172/real-estate-marketing-plans-most-effective-marketing-of-2011

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